Daniel McConnell: Why the coalition may opt for a November 24 general election

There is a sense among some in Fine Gael that Sinn Féin is on a bad run and has suffered fallout from the Jonathan Dowdall trial

While Mary Lou McDonald's Sinn Féin is the most popular party, we are no closer to identifying the coalition partners it would need to form a steady majority government. Picture: Sam Boal/ RollingNews.ie

In the local and European elections in 2019, Sinn Féin had a disaster.

The party lost a whopping 78 council seats across the country and saw its number of MEPs drop from three to one on the same day.